REFLECTION 43: WHEN YOU ARE NOTHING, YOU ARE EVERYTHING

To believe you have some grand mission may sound noble, but in truth it can be a subtle form of entanglement. The moment you tell yourself you were born to do something extraordinary-to save someone, to prove your worth-your ego has simply put on the costume of 'meaning'. It makes you think you are walking the path of awakening, when in fact you are only strengthening the feeling that I am special.

In the same way, believing you are 'someone'-a good person, an awakened person, an understanding person-is another kind of attachment. Because as soon as you label yourself, you confine yourself within the shape of that label. Once you think I am like this, you immediately fear losing it: you fear others will no longer see you that way; you fear you will no longer deserve the image you have built. And so you fall into an endless battle to protect a self made out of thoughts.

The Buddha of old became Buddha-not because he thought he was Buddha.

He simply saw the nature of things. He saw that there was no 'someone' to become Buddha at all. When there is no longer any 'I' to attain, to certify, to become-then, in that very moment, Buddha-nature reveals itself.

In truth, the mission of a human being-if there is one-is simply to live fully in this moment. There is no need to rescue anyone, to prove anything, or to become anybody at all. Live awake, live honestly, and live with love-and life will resolve itself.

When the mind is clear, action naturally becomes right. When compassion rises, what you do naturally becomes beneficial. You do not have to think your way into greatness-only see your way into truth.

Let go of the idea of who you are, and you return to yourself: without name, without form, without boundary. Let go of the idea that you have some special mission, and you return to the flow of the universe-natural, light, and full of love.

The Buddha did not think he was Buddha, and yet he still shone.

In the same way, when you stop trying to become someone, the light within you will naturally radiate. For the essence of every soul has been whole from the beginning-it is only temporarily forgotten.

Hoàng Nhật Minh
Excerpt from the book: Spiritual Science - A Journey Back To Your True Self

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